Archive for December, 2011

Dec

16

Centre of Excellence gets a new name and a grand opening

On December 12, the Okanagan College Centre of Excellence celebrated its grand opening in Penticton, and also revealed its new name: The Jim Pattison Centre of Excellence in Sustainable Building Technologies and Renewable Energy Conservation. The announcement was made by B.C. Premier Christy Clark at the grand opening celebration.

The new name reflects the generosity of B.C. businessman and community supporter Jim Pattison, who donated $2.5 million to the Okanagan College Foundation and its community fundraising campaign.

The post-secondary facility opened earlier this year, supporting programs and classes in sustainable building tools and techniques for the next generation of building professionals. It was designed to the standards of the Living Building Challenge, the most rigorous sustainability program on the planet, with stringent requirements for energy efficiency, water consumption, air quality, material selection, and more.

The building itself is part of the curriculum, with accessible design features that provide students with a practical, hands on education in made-in-B.C. sustainable design.

“It’s a great day for everybody involved; students, administrators, trades people, and the whole community,” said CEI Architecture’s Tim McLennan. “It’s been such a collaborative effort between so many people that makes this building what it is. I think that it’s going to have an extremely positive, long-term influence on green building everywhere.”

Check out the video above for footage of the opening celebrations, and if you’re in Penticton, check out the building, one of the most innovative sustainable facilities in the world.

Dec

14

Happy Holidays from CEI Architecture

Our office will be closed for the holidays Monday, December 26, Tuesday, December 27, Friday December 30, and Monday, January 2.

Dec

9

Edmonds Pool set to make a splash in 2012

This time next year the people of Burnaby will be celebrating the holidays pool side.

The $30 million Edmonds Pool and Community Centre broke ground earlier this year and remains on schedule and budget. That means the multi-use centre will be ready to host holiday functions of every sort next season.

“Everything is going really well and the community centre remains on track to be open late in 2012,” says Mark Hentze, partner at CEI Architecture. “It’s going to add a very fun and welcoming recreational facility for families in the City of Burnaby.”

The aquatics centre features a six-lane, 25-metre pool, a leisure pool, warm swim and therapy lanes, a lazy river with two channels, and double waterslides. The community centre also features a 12,000-square-foot twin gymnasium, as well as multi-purpose rooms, child minding spaces, spaces for seniors and youth, art rooms, a fitness studio, a fitness centre and a central atrium social space that becomes a community living room.

Edmonds Pool and Community Centre has been designed with the needs of its culturally diverse Burnaby community in mind. For example, the pool change rooms will adopt the current trend towards universal/family change spaces but still offer gender-specific spaces with a high degree of privacy.

“It’s really a very interesting place,” says Mark Hentze. “It’s one of the most diverse multi-cultural communities we’ve ever worked in. Some of the people who will use the centre have come to Canada from countries in which the notion of a public community and aquatics centre is an entirely new concept. We received a lot of input from design workshops and a large design charrette in which many community groups participated directly and they really contributed to the program and design. We listened to what people felt would strengthen the community and responded to that.”

The building sits between Richmond Park to the north and the urban edge of Edmonds Street to the south. It creates the classically Canadian condition of the urban meeting the suburban. It is aimed at remaining as energy conscious as possible and is currently pursuing LEED Silver certification.

Dec

7

Vancouver Island Mountain Centre opens with a bang

The Vancouver Island Mountain Centre is ready to kick off the winter sports season: the 8,000 square foot facility in Courtenay is set to open its doors on Thursday, December 8.

The first booking at the new centre will provide accommodation, kitchen access and meeting space for the Second Annual First Nations Snowboarding Coaches Clinic taking place at Mount Washington Alpine Resort from December 8-11.

The new two-storey space is designed to meet the needs of a variety of groups, with dorm-style accommodation for up to 40 people and amenities that include meeting and video rooms, training facilities with state-of-the-art fitness equipment, sport science lab space, equipment storage, maintenance rooms, cooking facilities and a large meeting/dining room.

The North Island MidWeek newspaper reported on the new facility. Click here for the full article.

Dec

5

Help rebuild Camp Hurlburt

One of our projects, Camp Hurlburt in Vernon, B.C., has reached the semi-finals of the Aviva Community Funding program. The program provides funding for a variety of community projects across Canada and relies on votes from the public to help decide what projects to support.

We have been working with the Camp Hurlburt Rebuild Committee on the redevelopment the camp’s facilities, balancing ecological and durable construction methods with a fully functioning and fun camp environment.

The plans involve a new heated and insulated main lodge and staff cabins to encourage activities outside the summer season and to accommodate the year-round resident director/caretaker. We’re also increasing the size of activity areas so that the campers can have maximum fun. The plans are designed with the natural environment in mind, to minimize impact on the local ecology and topography.

Camp Hurlburt is looking for $150,000 from Aviva to help fund Phase One of their redevelopment, which will include the demolition of the existing craft hall and cabins, some site work and the construction of 4-6 new cabins. With Aviva’s help, this will take place during 2012.

You can vote for Camp Hurlburt by visiting the Aviva Community Funding website and placing a vote until December 16. You will have 15 votes to distribute to the various programs, and you can choose to support many ideas or use them all for one idea.

You get one vote, per idea, per day, so get voting!

Dec

2

Conrad Boychuk at StadiaExpo 2012

Conrad Boychuk, Senior Director of Recreation and Venue Development at CEI Architecture, has once again been invited to moderate an industry session at this year’s Stadia Design and Technology Expo, in May 2012.

Conrad will lead a roundtable discussion on the Canadian market for stadium and venue projects. The session will happen on May 9 from 9:00 a.m. to 10:00 a.m., and will include Curtis Emerson from the Canadian Football League and Jeff Hunt from the Ottawa 67’s. Conrad expects to have the other participants identified by the end of January including a representative from the soccer community.